Bayer Leverkusen macht einen weiteren wichtigen Schritt in Richtung der K.-o.-Runde der UEFA Champions League

Leverkusen are enjoying a five-match winning run in all competitions that includes a workmanlike victory over Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup round of 16.

The defending Bundesliga champions have also pieced together three straight league wins for the first time this season to put a somewhat rocky start to their title defence behind them. Xabi Alonso’s charges have closed the gap on Bayern to seven points in that period, whilst consolidating their position in the Champions League top eight with a thumping 5-0 triumph over Red Bull Salzburg. Needless to say a fourth win in six league-phase games would do wonders for their prospects of avoiding the play-offs and advancing straight to the last 16. The midweek match-winner against Bayern, Nathan Tella, led the line against St. Pauli on Saturday in the absence of injured strikers Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick. Further rotation is expected in Europe, with right-back Jeremie Frimpong and midfielder Robert Andrich set for starting recalls. Florian Wirtz, who has five goals in as many Champions League games so far this term, could be the man to assume false No.9 duties.

Unlucky for some, Inter travel to the BayArena on a run of 13 matches without defeat in all competitions. They’re third in Serie A, and one of only three teams yet to taste defeat in the 2024/25 Champions League, alongside Liverpool and Atalanta. Ten points became 13 in a narrow victory over RB Leipzig a fortnight ago, albeit with Castello Lukeba’s own goal proving the difference. And while they have lost just once in the league this season, that defeat came away to an AC Milan outfit Leverkusen beat 1-0 on Matchday 2. Head coach Simone Inzaghi has no shortage of familar faces to call on, with Marko Arnautović, Yann Aurel Bisseck, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Benjamin Pavard, Yann Sommer and Marcus Thuram all having played in the Bundesliga at some stage in their careers. Thuram scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Parma, but the Frenchman has not started a Champions League fixture since the goalless draw with Manchester City on Matchday 1. Lautaro Martínez and Mehdi Taremi are Inzaghi’s preferred front two

Match stats

• Leverkusen have won seven of their last eight home games in European competition (D1), all since the start of last season. They’ve outscored their opponents 27 to six across those eight matches.
• Wirtz has opened the scoring in three different Champions League games so far this term – the joint-most of any player alongside former Borussia Dortmund man Christian Pulisic. Only Stefan Beinlich has broken the deadlock more times for Leverkusen in a single Champions League campaign (four, 1997/98)
• Wirtz is also Leverkusen’s top scorer in all competitions so far this term with nine goals – a tally he shares with the injured Schick.
• Alonso could become the eighth man to win the Champions League as a player and a coach, after Miguel Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane. He got his hands on the trophy as a player twice – in 2004/05 and 2013/14 with Liverpool and Real Madrid, respectively.
• Among players to have attempted at least 100 passes while under high-intensity pressure from the opposition, the top two for pass completion are Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka (93 percent) and Aleix García (93.5 percent).
• Pavard won the 2019/20 Champions League with Hansi Flick’s Bayern. He also lifted four Bundesliga titles during a four-year spell at the club, doing so as part of a team that included Sommer in 2023/23